On top of Fox’s openly-conservative pundits’ attacks on John Kerry and John Edwards, the network is now employing its supposedly “objective” news segments in a pernicious campaign of spin and innuendo. Fox News correspondents and anchor people now regularly try to spin Kerry and Edwards as fabulously rich member of an out-of-touch elite, deliberately trying to obscure their political agenda by claiming criticism is comes not from them, but from a source. However, those sources are most often abstract and unnamed (aka. “critics say…). Worse, they neglect to mention another presidential ticket, whose wealth and aristocratic family background might be equally worthy of comment.
FOX: KERRY AN ‘ELITIST MILLIONAIRE’ – NO CRITICS CITED: “[Kerry is] both under fire from minority leaders, who say he’s not reached out enough, and eager to shed the image of an elitist millionaire.” [Source: Carl Cameron, 6/29/04]
FOX: NEWS ANCHOR SAYS KERRY IS AN ‘ARISTOCRAT’: “Finally, he may be a Boston aristocrat with an Ivy League education and cousins in France, but that did not make it fair to laugh when John Kerry said last week that he pays close attention to rap music because it says something important.” [Fox Anchorman Brit Hume, 4/6/04]
FOX: CRITICS SAY KERRY’S WEALTH MAKES HIM ‘OUT OF TOUCH’ – NO SOURCE CITED: “Criticized as aloof and out of touch with the common man, the millionaire, Massachusetts senator met with low-income African-American kids.” [Fox Correspondent Carl Cameron, 6/16/04]
FOX: KERRY’S WEALTH, IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLING AN ISSUE, BUSH’S IS NOT: A June report from a Fox News correspondent said “Kerry has always been one of the haves, educated at the finest schools [and] a billionaire wife.” In a July report, a Fox correspondent said, “The problem for Kerry may be who he is. An Ivy League millionaire, who has rubbed elbows with the world’s wealthiest sophisticates, while most of rural America is considered Bush country.” There was no mention in either report of Bush’s wealthy upbringing as grandson of a Senator, son of a President, schooling at Phillips Andover, Yale and Harvard, or tens of millions in personal assets. [Source: Fox Correspondent Carl Cameron, 6/29/04 and 7/3/04]
FOX: EVEN THOUGH BUSH IS A MILLIONAIRE, IT IS RICH PEOPLE LIKE KERRY WHO RUIN POLITICS: “Now, some people said John Kerry did, first of all, because he is an attractive candidate, but he’s also got a lot of money. He married into a lot of money…these guys, Donald Trump, John Kerry, millionaires, many hundreds of times over, gives you the idea that this whole political thing is kind of elitist.” [Source: Fox News anchor David Asman, 12/2/02]
FOX: KERRY & EDWARDS DON’T EAT REGULAR FOOD BECAUSE THEY ARE WEALTHY: “This is not to suggest…that there is anything wrong with making or marrying into millions. But it is fair to point out that it’s probably been a long time since either of these guys had to dine on Hamburger Helper.” [Source: Fox Correspondent Brian Wilson, 2/18/04]
FOX: PRICE OF KERRY & EDWARDS HOMES ARE CAMPAIGN ISSUE – BUSH’S IS NOT: Fox aired a full report on where Kerry and Edwards live, without mentioning President Bush’s Crawford, Texas estate and family compound in wealthy Kennebunkport, Maine: “Just a few cobblestones away, about a block actually, is where John Kerry lives in Washington. A four-story house about 104 years old, 23 rooms, 10 bedrooms, six baths, seven fireplaces, count them, seven fireplaces. Conservative estimate on value $4.3 million. You may notice I said this is where Senator Kerry lives, but technically it belongs to his fabulously wealthy wife and ketchup heiress, Teresa Heinz…Senator Edwards’ home, $3.8 million.” [Source: Fox News Correspondent Brian Wilson’s special report on Kerry and Edwards homes, 2/18/04]
FOX: EDWARDS JUST A ‘MILLIONAIRE LAWYER’ – NO MENTION CHENEY IS WEALTHIER: Without mentioning Edwards more than 5 years in the Senate or the fact that his counterpart Dick Cheney’s Halliburton treasure makes him wealthier than Edwards, Fox reported “topping [Kerry’s] short list is a millionaire trial lawyer from the south.” An earlier report had a Fox correspondent saying “don’t worry about Senator Edwards getting by. He made millions as a trial lawyer.” [Source: Fox Correspondent Carl Cameron, 7/3/04; Fox Correspondent Brian Wilson, 2/18/04]